Entsminger picked as Southern Nevada Water Authority chief

Newly anointed Las Vegas Valley Water District chief John Entsminger will also replace Pat Mulory as general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Authority board members made it official in a unanimous vote Thursday morning.

Pending the approval of his employment contract with the water district, Entsminger will take over the top spot at both agencies on Feb. 6, when Mulroy retires after more than 20 years on the job.

Before the vote, Boulder City Councilman and authority board member Duncan McCoy defended the decision to promote from within instead of conducting a national search. He said any outsider likely would be “a beginner” in the complex and contentious world of water politics on the Colorado River.

“What we have had with Mr. Entsminger is a long, long, long (job) interview, and I think he’s passed,” McCoy said.

Thursday’s decision carried little suspense after last week, when Clark County commissioners made Entsminger their unanimous choice to run the water district.

Three commissioners serve on the authority’s board, which is rounded out with one city council member each from Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City.

The 42-year-old Entsminger assumes a dual role that has been called the most powerful and important bureaucratic post in Nevada. As general manager of the water district, he will oversee operations of the state’s largest municipal water utility. As general manager of the water authority, he will oversee the delivery of the entire drinking water supply for the Las Vegas Valley and serve as Nevada’s pointman in crucial negotiations among the seven states that share the Colorado River.

Entsminger is the current deputy general manager of both the district and the authority. Shortly after Mulroy announced plans to retire last year, she recommended him as the only logical choice to succeed her.

He also received a glowing endorsement from the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Already, Entsminger seems to be staking out many of the same positions as Mulroy, preaching the need for a communitywide commitment to conservation and describing the ongoing drought on the Colorado as a natural disaster of national importance.

On Thursday, he said conservation is not just the right thing to do, it’s also the cheapest way for the community to stretch its limited water supply.

Entsminger also has said he favors continued work on the water authority’s controversial, multibillion-dollar plan to tap groundwater across rural eastern Nevada and pipe it to Las Vegas, though he describes it as a project of last resort — just as Mulroy has.

The County Commission is scheduled to hold a second vote on Entsminger’s appointment to head up the water district on Tuesday. Commissioner Mary Beth Scow said the action was being taken “out of an abundance of caution” after technical legal questions were raised over the posting of the agenda for last week’s meeting.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak called it a “mulligan,” and said he expects next week’s vote to be unanimous in favor of Enstminger just like it was last week.

The commission is expected to review and vote on Entsminger’s employment contract on Feb. 4. It’s unclear what his compensation will be, but Mulroy is paid $279,154 a year, plus benefits, to manage both the authority and the district, with each agency covering half of her salary.

Entsminger started out as a lawyer for the water district and the authority in June 1999, shortly after he earned his law degree from the University of Colorado.

He was later promoted to deputy general counsel for both agencies and served as lead negotiator on a series of national and international agreements that secured more water for Nevada from the Colorado River. Then in 2010, he joined Mulroy’s executive team as deputy general manager for the district and the authority.

Entsminger received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

Entsminger said he has been able to marry both of his areas of study as a water attorney on the Colorado River because “the history of the settlement of the West is a study in the development of water in an arid land.”

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0350. Follow him on Twitter @RefriedBrean.